Opinion: Forget the gaffes, Obama eloquently knocks one out of the park

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True, President-elect Barack Obama and his transition team have made some boo-boos the last few weeks. They may have been the only people in the country unaware of the grand jury investigation of Obama’s secretary of Commerce-designate, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.

So he had to go under the bus.

And there’s Obama’s absolute-opposition-well-maybe-he’d-be-all-right to Roland Burris, the man designated to fill the president-elect’s vacant U.S. Senate seat by legally challenged but crafty Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who’s giving some Illinois insomnia to Democratic Senate leaders Happy Harry Reid and Dangerous Dick Durbin.

But with his inauguration as the 44th president now barely a week away, Obama made a magnificently masculine move the other day that almost half the country can thoroughly admire in a truly bipartisan spirit. It was so skillful, so deft and savvy that it slid right by most of us at first.

The man who will soon command the most powerful military forces on the planet said publicly that he was happy his mother-in-law is moving in with him and Michelle.

In fact, the almost-president said he was positively delighted at the prospect of having his wife’s outspoken 71-year-old mother living just down the White House hall from him.

And he pulled it off. He really did. Who didn’t believe him?

Crowds in front of the Obamas’ temporary residence in Washington’s Hay-Adams Hotel were not seen falling on the sidewalk laughing. Secret Service personnel kept the straight faces they have surgically implanted after taking the oath. ‘Saturday Night Live’ did not do a skit or news report mocking the unbelievable occurrence. Most important for a male who wants to stay married to the same woman, Obama’s wife believed him.

Marian Robinson is known as a very independent and blunt-talking woman who likes her fried food good and fried with plenty of salt. She does not hit the gym every morning by 8. She’s been living for years in her own bungalow on Chicago’s South Side, where she can have her things her way.

And for the last year or two after retiring as a bank secretary, she’s been a primary caregiver for her two granddaughters, Malia and Sasha, while their parents campaigned Lord-knows-where in order to win four years’ residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

By all accounts, Grandma Robinson had her rules and discipline as a conscientious mom. But she’s made it clear as a grandmother that she disagrees with her son-in-law’s and daughter’s rules on bedtime and daily TV-watching for the girls -- 8:30 is way too early, and one hour is insufficient.

Robinson’s move into the White House makes her the first first mother-in-Law to take up presidential residence since Harry Truman’s years, which may be the real reason he did not seek reelection in 1952. Robinson’s move is being described as possibly temporary. Never ever having lived outside Chicago, she naturally wants to see how it goes before deciding on a permanent watchdog role.

Michelle Obama describes her mom lovingly as someone who doesn’t like any fuss around her and highly prizes her own space. So that will probably work out really well in a place as simple, private and understaffed as the White House.

--Andrew Malcolm

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